The IAAF Worlds End
All in all, a successful World Championships ended in Beijing this weekend. Although, not quite a success for Team USA as they probably had hoped, finishing with only 18 total medals, behind 2013's 25 and 2011's 26. What's more, USA only won six gold, compared to Jamaica's and Kenya's seven each. Granted, Jamaica's strength of 12 total was driven by Usain Bolt's three and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce's two, but Kenya's total haul included new events for them - the javelin with Julius Yego, and the 400m hurdles with Nicholas Bett. The shifting sands of sports power continue to move around...
Bolt did provide the highlight of the week, with his two individual golds and the relay win, to bring him to 11 (!) total Worlds gold in his career. Fraser-Pryce won the women's 100 for the third time, and GBR's Mo Farah won the 5,000 / 10,000 double for the second time (and third time including the '12 Olympics). Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa won the 400, and then promptly needed hospitalization for exhaustion (he's okay), launching a new star to watch in a competitive field ahead of Rio. Canada won eight medals, including two golds in men's field events. Poland also won eight medals, and also proved a field power - with seven medals. Ashton Eaton of the USA won the decathlon with a world record mark. Compatriot Allyson Felix won the 400 to prove the intrigue of a 200 / 400 attempt at the Olympics. And finally, Jessica Ennis-Hill of Great Britain won the heptathlon after missing 18 months of competition. All in all, a well-prepared field provided 15 world-leading marks, including one world record. For those of us watching closely, it all just wets the appetite for Rio and has us curious for how much of a preview these Worlds are...

World Judo Championships Also End
Athletics wasn't the only major world championship this past week, as the World Judo Championships also concluded, in Kazan. Not unexpectedly, Japan came out on top of the medal table, with seventeen total, including eight gold and the team titles for both men and women. Poland was a surprise finalist in the women's team event, while Mongolia made strong showing overall with four medals, tying Germany for fourth behind South Korea and France. Overall, 24 nations earned at least one medal across the sixteen events.

Nigeria Wins AfroBasket
Nigeria won their first AfroBasket title, as well as their second straight Olympic qualification. Great to see more competitiveness on the continent, as usual Olympic participants Angola had to settle for second place. They, along with Tunisia and Senegal, will move onto FIBA's Olympic Qualification Tournament for another chance at Rio.

Japan Wins Asia's U-19
The Asian Football Confederation held its U-19 tournament for women in Nanjing, with Japan defeating North Korea in penalties in the final. South Korea beat China 4-0 to win the third place match. This was the eighth AFC U-19 women's tournament since 2002, and the fourth title for Japan.

EuroHockey Tournaments End
In other Olympic qualification news, the biennial European championships for field hockey finished in London this weekend, with potential Rio 2016 berths on the line. On the women's side, England defeated the Netherlands 3-1 for their first title, and officially earned the European slot at the Olympics. As they had already qualified through the World League semi-finals, the next best team in that competition - India - now moves up into Rio. Similarly on the men's side, as the Netherlands won the European title, next-best Spain moves onto Rio from the World League.

Australia Dominates Oceania Boxing
The Oceania Boxing Championships ended in Canberra as well, with the host Australians making the most of their usual strength, making nine of ten finals. The tournament also served as Worlds qualifying, as the two finalist in each division also earned spots at the Worlds in Doha later this year.

Australia Books an Olympic Ticket
As expected, Australia won the two-game series against arch-rival New Zealand to win the FIBA Oceania Championship and the region's automatic Olympic spot for next year in Rio. NBA stars Matthew Dellevedova, Patty Mills, and Andrew Bogut joined the team to ensure the Boomers' 19th straight trip to Olympic competition. Meanwhile, New Zealand - which has only made the Games in 2000 and 2004, moves on to the last-chance Olympic Qualifying Tournament next year.

Germany Dominates European Equestrian
Hosts Germany topped the medal table at the 2015 European Equestrian Championships in Aachen, which featured the Olympic disciplines of eventing, dressage, and jumping but also vaulting, reining and driving. Jeroen Dubbeldam of the Netherlands won the final event, individual jumping, to add to his career titles in the Olympics and the Worlds.

Cuba On Top Again in Americas Boxing
At the conclusion of the 2015 Americas Confederation Boxing Championships in Vargas, Venezuela, Cuba stood out as the clear dominant force once again. With finalists in all ten divisions, the Cubans emerged with 7 titles, including in the with super heavyweight Erislandy Savon, nephew of legend Felix Savon, and winner of teh tournament's best boxer after his 3-0 defeat of Argentina's Yamil Peralta.

Canoe Sprint Worlds End in Milan
In another display of traditional powers' dominance, Hungary topped the medals at the 2015 Canoe Sprint Worlds in Milan this week, with 13 medals overall. Belarus led the gold race, with five of the 26 at stake, with kayaker Maryna Litvinchuk winning two. Looking ahead to Rio, Brazil set themselves up with Isaquias Queiroz winning two medals, notably gold in the C-2 1000m with partner Erlon Silva.

Brazil Wins FIVB Women's U-23
Volleyball can rest equally with both soccer and basketball as sports with a proliferation of world championships for multiple age groups. This week, it was the U-23 women's turn. At the conclusion, Brazil won in four sets over the host Turkey, and helped set the nation up with a boost of depth confidence ahead of the senior tournament in the Olympic next year. This was the second edition of the U-23 Worlds, with China having won in 2013.

Speaking of Which...
Poland defeated hosts Argentina in a tight 3-2 match in the men's U-19 World Championship, in Resistencia. This is the Poles first U-19 title, and the first time either team had made it into the final match. Iran defeated Russia for the bronze.

A New Face in European Modern Pentathlon
Europe held its Modern Pentathlon Championships, and Olympic qualifiers, with the top eight finishers in both the men's and women's competition earning Rio berths. For the women, defending Olympic champion Lithuanian Laura Asadauskaite won the title, although she already had qualified for Rio by virtue of her 2015 World Cup title. Perhaps the breakthrough news of the tournament was Ireland's Arthur Lanigan-O'Keefe winning the men's title, despite a 38th world ranking. At 23, he is already an Olympic veteran, having finished in 25th at London. Congrats!

Meanwhile, Egyptians Lead Charge in African Modern Pentathlon
On stake in Cairo at the African Modern Pentathlon Championships were single Olympic berths for both of the individual title-ists. Egypt scored both, first with Haydy Morsy winning the women's gold over veteran Aya Medany. Next, Eslam Hamad took the men's title, over a field that included worlds medalist Amro El Geziry.

USA Wins Women's U-20 Water Polo Worlds
The United States won the biennial junior championship for U-20's, after beating Spain 13-10 in the gold medal match, and for their fourth title. Russia beat Canada for the bronze in the 16-team tournament in Volos, where the host Greeks managed an fifth place finish.

The Track & Field World Championships Begin...
The biggest event in athletics aside from the Olympics, the IAAF's World Championships began in Beijing with a return to the site of the 2008 Games and its iconic Bird's Nest stadium. The highlight of any track event is often the men's 100meters - and this year's version certainly was billed as the top draw, with 'good guy' Usain Bolt of Jamaica vs 'evil guy' Justlin Gatlin of the USA. While that was typical - and unfair - media hype, Bolt delivered a win for history, for his ninth career gold, and overcoming doubts that he can still rise despite a subpar season. Lots more track and field, though over the new week - let the (athletics) begin!

...and Seb Coe Takes Charge
Great Britain's track legend, 2012 London chair, and longtime IAAF vice president Sebastian Coe was elected to the presidency this week, after an election pitting him against fellow legend, ex-pole vaulter Sergey Bubka of the Ukraine. With strong words simultaneously defending the IAAF while vowing to fight doping, he has work to do, and the honeymoon glow of his win seems to already have faded. An immediate scandal for him - the state of his business ties to Nike despite his new role - have diverted attention from the happiness of the election. With the status of athletics as the lead sport of the Olympics, and with its stature on its own in off-years anyway, Coe has his work cut out for him in leading the charge to trust and accountability. At least he has this week to enjoy Bolt and co before everyone starts paying attention again to his office...

​Started in 1983, the IAAF's World Championships are the largest event for global track and field outside of the Olympic Games. Not only serving as the highlight of competition for athletics in between the Games, they often are looked upon as a specific Games preview. This especially holds true for the Championships editions held the year right before an Olympics.

With that in mind, and with the 2015 Championships set to open in Beijing this week, I take a look back at previous Championships to glimpse at how well Worlds medalists are able to finish on the podium at the following Olympics.

According to my research (see notes below), history shows that over 1/3 of the medallists at a Worlds held in the year before a fully-participatory Games will also reach the Olympic podium. Let's take a look:

In 1984, only 19.5% of the 1983 Worlds medalists reached the Olympic podium. This is the lowest percentage of all the cycles, and can be directly attributed to the Soviet-led boycott of the Games, preventing many athletic stars from competing. In fact, in the following cycle of 1987 - 88, the percentage of repeat medalists jumps from that 19.5% to a whopping 46.8%. That is certainly reflective of the power of the track & field giants of the time, the Soviets and East Germans, focusing resources and training (and, ahem, other things?) on star athletes to keep them primed.

With the dissolution of the track cold war in the early 90's and the spread of coaching and training, the figures cooled down, but have never dipped below 33%:

1991 Worlds to 1992 Games - 33.3% of Worlds medalists reached the Olympic podium
1995 Worlds to 1996 Games - 38.6%
1999 Worlds to 2000 Games - 33.3%
2003 Worlds to 2004 Games - 35.5%
2007 Worlds to 2008 Games - 36.9%

And then, there's a huge increase in the next and latest cycle:

2011 Worlds to 2012 Games - 47.5%

Almost half of the athletes who medalled at the 2011 Worlds also medalled in that event at the 2012 Games. That includes an impressive 41 of 47 events that featured at least one duplicate medalist. The only six events to have a complete podium turnover were the men's and women's 1500m's, men's 20km walk, men's high jump, women's 400m, and the men's javelin. Further, six events had the exact same medalists between 2011 and 2012, although not necessarily in same order: men's discus, men's hammer, decathlon, both women's relays, and women's triple jump.

With the hard work involved over a single year in maintaining fitness, preventing injury, keeping focus, and avoiding the consistent new arrivals on the scene, that's a pretty good figure. Perhaps the increased ability to forge a longer career today out of athletics has enabled this jump. We'll wait to see how this cycle holds up, and how the repeat factor maintains. Assumedly, many of Beijing 2015's stars will be shining again at Rio 2016.

Detail on the individual Championships can be found in earlier posts:

• Part 1 - the 80's
• Part 2 - the 90's
• Part 3 - the 00's
• Part 4 - the 10's

Notes on my figures:

• For comparison to Olympic podiums, I only calculated results from the Worlds editions in the immediate year prior. So, the Worlds editions of '93, '97, '01, '05, '09, and '13 do not figure in these results.
• If a Worlds carried 47 events (as it does now), then that meant 141 podium placements (3 x 47). So, there are 141 opportunities for a match between a podium at the Worlds and the next Olympics
• I counted any podium finish as equal. So, winning a gold in the 100m at Worlds in 2011 (Yohan Blake (JAM) and then silver at the Olympics in 2012 counts as a match. I was more interested in medalling at all rather than specific color.
• If a Worlds edition held an event that was not held in the following Olympics (e.g. women's 10km walk in 1987/88), then those World podium spots were removed from calculation
• I did not count athletes who medalled in the Worlds and the next Olympics, but in different events. Special recognition, though, goes to Said Aouita (MAR), who World-medalled in the 1500m ('83) and 5000m ('87) and Olympic-medalled in the 5000m ('84) and the 800m (!) ('88).
• I tried to account for any current doping issues and subsequent reallocations. With the recent women's 1500m issue from 2012 Olympics, it is still to be determined if Tatyana Tomashova (RUS) will be upgraded from fourth to bronze; if so, that result would affect the totals.

Russia Tops European Men's Boxing
The 2015 European Boxing Championships ended as well, with Russia earning four golds in the competition in Samokov, Bulgaria. Meanwhile, Great Britain had five finalists, although their only title came from Joseph Cordina in the lightweight division. Ireland had two gold medalists, in the bantamweight with Michael Conlan and light heavyweight with Joseph Ward. With that gold, Ward became the first Irishman to win two European senior titles. Bulgaria, Croatia, and Lithuania all earned one title each.

While China Tops Asian Women's Boxing
The 2015 Asian Women's Boxing Championships ended, with hosts China taking the lead on top the medal table in Wulanchabu. Winning six of ten available golds, China's team performance was perhaps highlighted by three-time world champion Ren Cancan's return to competition and gold in the flyweight division, over veteran North Korea's Ri Hyang-Mi. Thailand (2x), Korea (1x) and Kazakhstan (1x) split the other four gold available. (No India?)

Tokyo 2020 Logo Is Not Original?
Well...not quite...yet. Logo designer Kenjiro Sano admitted that complementary designs, used for merchandising and ancillary purposes, were, in fact, copied from outside designs. Such affected items, such as promotional tote bags are to be pulled from market. This, of course, comes on the heels of accusations that Sano copied the actual logo itself...a charge that has resulted in a lawsuit this week from the Theatre de Liege designer in Belgium.

Guanabara Bay Still a Concern
The talk of pollution still is an issue for Brazil and Rio 2016. Perhaps that is due, simply, how polluted the water where sailing will take place is. While some in the IOC may laugh off the concern while trying to sound somewhat serious, it is a problem. However, test events are proceeding and everyone mostly agrees the venue won't change, so now it's a matter of containment rather than overhaul. Hopefully, that finger-crossing pays off without major illness...we'll see!

Rio Organizers in Another Scandal?
Fresh off that continued conversation on Guanabara Bay, a new charge has emerged that sounds more like Qatar talk - that Brazil Global Servicos, a contractor for the Olympic Village, has (is?) treating its workers to "conditions...compared to slavery". Come on, people - it's 2015, let's get it together!

Badminton Worlds End
The annual World Championships in badminton ended in Jakarta, with the defending champions largely coming out on top again. In women's singles, Spain's Carolina Marin, world ranked #1, cemented her reign at the top of the rankings, defeating #2 Saina Newhal in the final and successfully repeating her win from last year. As well, China's Chen Long repeated as men's gold medalist. China's pairs also retained women's and mixed doubles, while Indonesia broke through for the men's doubles, where only the 2014 silver medalists made it to the podium this year (bronze, Korea's Lee Yong-Dae and Yoo Yeong-Seon). In all, China topped the medal table with six overall.

Pan Am Paralympics Games End
The Parapan Am Games ended in Toronto, after a week's competition in 15 sports. Brazil topped the medal table, with 257, followed by Canada at 168 and the U.S. with 135.

IAAF Continues Fight Against Doping - and its Image
On the eve of two of its most attention-getting events - its upcoming presidential elections and its World Championships in Beijing - the IAAF is getting hammered by new (ish?) allegations that it has fudged and neglected investigations in past Championships against doping. While drug cheats and face-saving bureaucracy will unfortunately - and likely - always be a fight for the organization, let's hope that either Sebastian Coe or Sergey Bubka (or both!) have the guts and power to eradicate any doubt on the IAAF's intent on the fight.

Italy Wins Junior Women's Volleyball
FIVB's U-18 Women's Volleyball World Championship ended this week, with a first-ever gold for team Italy. Before defeating the U.S. in the final in straight sets, the Italians had gone undefeated in pool play in the 20-team tournament. Defending champions China finished third over Turkey in the bronze medal match.

Canada tops Americas Women's Basketball
With Brazil in the Olympics already as hosts, and the U.S. as well as the world champions, the door was open for another nation to step up to qualification through the FIBA Americas Women's Championship in Edmonton. Hosts Canada stepped up, defeating Cuba in the final and earning a return trip to the Olympics, after finishing eighth in 2012. Meanwhile, second through fourth place finishers Cuba, Argentina, and Venezuela move on to the Olympic Qualifying Tournament for a second 2016 chance.

Iran Highlights the World Wrestling Juniors
United World Wrestling completed its World Junior Championships in Salvador da Bahia this week, with Iran winning the men's freestyle team title. Azerbaijan finished in second, with three golds. Japan won the women's free team, and Georgia the men's greco-roman title.

​Started in 1983, the IAAF's World Championships are the largest event for global track and field outside of the Olympic Games. Not only serving as the highlight of competition for athletics in between the Games, they often are looked upon as a specific Games preview. This especially holds true for the  Championships editions held the year right before an Olympics.

With that in mind, I take a look back at previous Championships to glimpse at how well Worlds medalists are able to finish on the podium at the following Olympics. Although Championships did start on a biennial schedule in 1993, with the first edition held after a Games, I'll focus more attention on those editions which occur right before.

Read previous IAAF World Champs Retrospective entries here:

• Part 1 - the 80's
• Part 2 - the 90's
• Part 3 - the 00's​

XIII - Daegu, 2011

Stats

• 1,848 athletes from 204 nations
• 47 events

Medal Table

1. United States (26)
2. Russia (19)
3. Kenya (17)

Highlights

• The third Championships to be held in Asia, after '91 Tokyo and '07 Osaka
• One world record was set, by JAM n the men's 4x100m relay with 37.04
• Overall, four championship records were set across the competition

How the Olympic medal podiums the following year (2012 London) compare

• Yohan Blake (JAM) went from gold to silver in the 100m
• Usain Bolt (JAM) repeated with gold in the 200m
• Kirani James (GRN) repeated with gold in the 400m
• David Rudisha (KEN) repeated with gold in the 800m
• Mo Farah (GBR) and Dejen Gebremeskel (ETH) went from 1-3 to 1-2 in the 5000m
• Mo Farah (GBR) went from silver to gold in the 10,000m
• Abel Kirui (KEN) went from gold to silver in the marathon
• Jason Richardson (USA) went from gold to silver in the 110m hurdles
• Javier Culson (PUR) went from silver to bronze in the 400m hurdles
• Ezekiel Kemboi (KEN) and Mahiedine Benabbad (FRA) went from 1-3 to 1-2 in the 3000m steeplechase
• Jared Tallent (AUS) went from bronze to silver in the 50km walk
• JAM and FRA went from 1-2 to 1-3 in the men's 4x100m relay
• USA went from gold to silver in the men's 4x400m relay
• Mitchell Watt (AUS) repeated with silver in the long jump
• Christian Taylor (USA) and Will Claye (USA) went from 1-3 to 1-2 in the triple jump
• Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) went from bronze to gold in the pole vault
• David Storl (GER) went from gold to silver in the shot put
• Robert Harting (GER), Gerd Kanter (EST), & Ehsan Haddadi (IRI) went from 1-2-3 to 1-3-2 in the discus
• Koji Murofushi (JPN), Krisztian Pars (HUN) & Primoz Kosmus (SLO) went from 1-2-3 to 3-1-2 in the hammer throw
• Ashton Eaton (USA), Trey Hardee (USA) and Leonel Suarez (CUB) went from 1-2-3 to 2-1-3 in the decathlon
• Carmelita Jeter (USA) and Veronica Brown (JAM) went from 1-2 to 2-3 in the 100m
• Carmelita Jeter (USA) and Allyson Felix (USA) went from 2-3 to 3-1 in the 200m
• Mariya Savinova (RUS) and Caster Semenya (RSA) repeated with 1-2 in the 800m
• Vivian Cheruiyot (KEN) and Meseret Defar (ETH) went from 1-3 to 2-1 in the 5000m
• Vivian Cheruiyot (KEN) and Sally Kipyego (KEN) went from 1-2 to 3-2 in the 10,000m
• Prsicah Jeptoo (KEN) repeated with silver in the marathon
• Sally Pearson (AUS) and Dawn Harper (USA) went from 1-3 to 1-2 in the 100m hurdles
• Lashinda Demus (USA) and Natalya Antyukh (RUS) went from 1-3 to 2-1 in the 400m hurdles
• Habiba Ghribi (TUN) and Micah Cheywa (KEN) went from 2-3 to 1-3 in the 3000m steeplechase
• Olga Kaniskina (RUS) went from gold to silver in the 20km walk
• USA, JAM, and UKR repeated as 1-2-3 in the women's 4x100m relay
• USA, JAM, RUS went from 1-2-3 to 1-3-2 in the women's 4x400m relay
• Brittney Reese (USA) repeated with gold in the long jump
• Olha Saladhuka (UKR), Olga Rypakova (KAZ), and Caterine Ibarguen (COL) went from 1-2-3 to 3-1-2 in the triple jump
• Anna Chicherova (RUS) repeated with gold in the high jump
• Valerie Adams (NZL) repeated with gold in the shot put
• Li Yanfeng (CHN) and Yarelis Barrios (CUB) went from 1-3 to 2-3 in the discus throw
• Tatyana Lysenko (RUS) and Betty Heidler (GER) went from 1-2 to 1-3 in the hammer throw
• Barbara Spotakova (CZE) went from silver to gold in the javelin
• Tatyana Chernova (RUS) and Jessica Ennis (GBR) went from 1-2 to 3-1 in the heptathlon
• USA (29), Russia (17), and JAM (12) topped the medal table

​XIV - Moscow, 2013

Stats

• 1,974 athletes from 206 nations
• 47 events

Medal Table

1. United States (25)
2. Russia (17)
3. Kenya (12)

Highlights

• With seven golds, Russia became the first Championships host to take the golds title, although finished second in overall medals to the USA.
• Usain Bolt (JAM) and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM) both won three golds each, while Bolt became the all-time medalist at the Worlds, with eight golds and two silvers overall.
• No world records were established.
• Overall, only three championship records were set across all competition.

There are some repeat gold medalists between the '12 Games and these '13 Championships:

• Usain Bolt (JAM) in the 100m
• Usain Bolt (JAM) in the 200m
• Mo Farah (GBR) in the 5000m
• Mo Farah (GBR) in the 10,000m
• Stephen Kiprotich (UGA) in the marathon
• Ezekiel Kemboi (KEN) in the 3000m steeplechase
• JAM in the men's 4x100m relay
• Robert Harting (GER) in the discus throw
• Ashton Eaton (USA) in the decathlon
• Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM) in the 100m
• Meseret Defar (ETH) in the 5000m
• Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH) in the 10,000m
• Elena Lashmanova (RUS) in the 20km walk
• Brittney Reese (USA) in the long jump
• Valerie Adams (NZL) in the shot put
• Sandra Perkovic (CRO) in the discus throw
• Tatyana Lysenko (RUS) in the hammer throw